28 Oct
Harrison County Missouri, Unit B delete all of the acreage north of Section 25, which includes sections 7, 10, 11,12,13,14 and 19 Daviess County Missouri, Unit C Delete section 20. Atchison Missouri, Unit B delete. Henry County Missouri, Unit D- Blind #1 was moved to the SW corner of the lake but does not have water as of 10-27-03. Henry County Missouri, Unit C- Blind #1 is gone. Bourbon County Kansas Unit C- Delete the small acreage south of Section 2. We have several additions that will be available when the maps are posted online.
The auto run feature for the CD may not work. Make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader and try accessing the files on the CD-ROM directly. It is possible that once the files are accessed directly, that the HTML and Acrobat files will work, but I cannot guarantee this. Soon, the maps will be posted for member-only online use and download on the Internet, which can be accessed from most web browsers. This will be a viable alternative for the MAC users. Another alternative found by Kenneth Rosson is to insert the CD, open the CD, and double-click on “StartHere.htm.” This should open Internet Explorer and all works great from that point on.
Greetings Association Members, October, 2003 With this compact disk map update issue we mark a further evolution moving from the logistically costly and time-consuming process of paper map updates into a new phase of efficiency. That means less money spent on overhead and more money available for land contracts. Through these types of efforts at reducing overhead and maintaining our programmed budget of land contracts/overhead, more money for more land for each member is available. This is exactly why hunters seek our organization. Included with the maps on this CD are the Mid-America Hunting Association's Conditions of Membership, commonly referred to as the "Rules". It is absolutely necessary that all members read and comply with the conditions of membership as invariably when conflict arises it is based on compliance/non-compliance of the rules. They are written for all members and apply equally to all. Future CD's will always contain the rules and any updates to the rules from the previous issue to include modifications suggested by the membership and MAHA staff. Please take your time and follow the instructions on the CD. They are very simple and self-explanatory. You will be able to choose and print individual maps or select and print maps by the state. You will also be able to zoom in on each particular piece of property and print the farms much larger. For those with below average eyesight, this will be a major benefit. It will help with questionable boundaries; identify landmarks such as cemeteries, bridges, creeks etc… The CD will include all of the current maps. You will no longer have to add and delete new and old maps. We strongly encourage everyone to destroy all of his or her old maps and to start fresh. If you have notes on your old maps move them to the new maps and destroy the old ones. We apologize to those without computer access, but there is a simple solution. Take the CD to a local printing shop, such as Kinko’s and have them print whatever you need. There are many other reasons other than the cost factor we have chosen to convert the maps from paper to CD. It’s a major step towards efficiency for both the Association and the hunter. We’ve observed over the years that 50% of the membership books that have come through the office had deleted maps and /or are missing maps. A member using deleted maps has and will cause hostile relations with landowners and their neighbors. Congenial relations with landowners and their neighbors is critical for renewing leases and acquiring referrals from their neighbors for leases in the future. Also, physically sorting maps in the office has been a nightmare for anyone who has ever worked in the office, especially during the peak seasons. Our website update page has been used over the past 3 years as an informal method of sharing information with the Association membership as well as to display the latest success stories and pictures generously sent in by the membership. Unfortunately, only those with Internet access will be able to utilize this means of communication. We encourage those without Internet access to occasionally attempt to obtain Internet access to view our update page for year around Association information. Again, our website for year around update communication. Click the Update bar on the opening page to access ongoing Association information. If there are any changes on the maps we will post them on the Update page or tell you when you are making reservations. Please note several of the maps only allow specific “seasonal only” types of hunting and they require the office to check in with the landowner before scouting or hunting their property. This is a contractual obligation that must be fulfilled by the Association. Please don’t be offended by some of the rules that appear from your perspective to be petty or unimportant. Every rule has been put in place by necessity, tested and refined for 38 years to make hunting Association property fair and equal to all of the members. Our next project and goal will be to soon post the maps online. For technical purposes we will use our other website at www.magba.com to perform this function. We’ll keep you posted on the update page of our progress. The overall hunting forecast for fall looks very positive compared to the past two seasons. The upland reports are very inspiring; the water levels on the waterfowl properties are more than adequate and once again the deer and turkey populations are thriving. We apologize for the turnover with our office help. It’s been a tough position to maintain. We’re currently looking for a full time computer literate office person. If anyone knows of a dependable person looking for a fast pace office job that tapers off during the off-season we have a position available. Since this is a once a year newsletter and everyone doesn’t have a computer to keep updated on the little issues we frequently discuss on our Update page, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of a few key points that need to be addressed. Be sure to call the office to make your reservations, whether you are scouting or hunting. Reservation hours are from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm Central Time, Mon thru Friday. The phone number is toll free 1-888-797-8264 or local 816-761-3636. Each hunter is required to make his own reservation. Please have your maps in front of you or the property unit written down when you make a reservation to avoid confusion with the girls in the office. All members, resident and non-resident hunting Iowa and Kansas are required to fax a copy of their deer tags to the office or mail one to our PO Box before your reservations will be accepted. Our fax number is 816-765-5464 and our PO Box address is MAHA, PO Box 480756, KC, MO 64148-9903. There are two reasons we need a copy of the tags. One, both states draw for tags. We need an exact count to have ample room for hunters in each deer unit or zone. Without an exact head count we will be guessing and chances are we will have too many hunters in one unit or zone and not enough hunters in the others. Second, we have had a couple of problems in the past with the law from members tagging deer in the wrong units or tagging bucks with doe permits. Buck tag holders will always have first preference in Kansas and Iowa for reservations. Also, all firearms deer reservations in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa are not subject to change. Once made, they are final. As all hunters should always remember, SAFETY comes first. Have a great, safe and enjoyable season. Your business is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Jon Nee 21 Oct
20 Oct The rush on the first of the regular season telephone reservations went smooth this year with the great majority of the Association hunters prepared with the correct land identification which kept the telephone calls short allowing us to be thorough at recording everyone's hunt and be timely at getting to the next calls. We certainly thank those that were prepared. While most deer hunting members held back waiting closer to their hunting day many members made the early 30 day reservations. Most members know full well they have multiple places to hunt and are prepared to hunt any of them. On this particular point we have heard from several of our hunters that they have not in the past harvested a trophy from their first choice land pick, but frequently from alternative choices hunted later in the season. We have discussed this in the past as deer hunters have two generalized characteristic: the first is a tendency to exaggerate and the second is to believe that the one tree stand they pick from the thousands of acres available is exactly where that trophy deer will pass by. The converse to this are the Joe Farves, Perry Bullards, Jim Parks, Bill Martins, Robert Johnstons, and many others that do not scout, travel from many states away and simply go hunt a property and account for some of the largest racked bucks we have received photos of. Just some observations from the administrative side of the Association. Of all reservations made the vast majority of deer hunters did reserve their first choice, many asked us to make the decision for them from a selection of land they wanted to hunt and a few did not get their first choice. An interesting trend that gave us pause for humor was that several hunters that did not get their first choice lost out to their hunting buddies, maybe former hunting partners, which called earlier. We did have three incidents where individuals or groups of hunters attempted to make reservations without having their deer tag copy sent into us. Two of the reservations did get by our secretary who is new and were subsequently canceled and other hunters did fill in some of those spots. For the ones that were cancelled we did take the right action and notify the hunters they did not have the reservations they thought they had and would have to get a copy of their tags into us before they could make their reservations. Nothing new in this requirement, however some folks just need to be told 8 to 10 times before they believe the rules are written for all members and not just for everyone else. For those that may not have understood how we try to accommodate all possibilities within the reasonable person approach is that for those that have multiple tags for example a Kansas and an Iowa archery tag they may reserve up to three days per state for six open reservations on the books at any given time. This is to accommodate vacation day planning and motel room reservations. However, we are not all things to all people. An example is a parent without a tag that is escorting a junior hunter with a tag. Only the tag holder can have a reservation on the books and is limited to three days open and must consume a day before adding another. In this case the father, a non-tag holder, may not also have three additional reservations tying up six properties in one state for his son. The same reasonable person approach holds for the member that tried to make a reservation after sending us in a doe tag attempting to use his name to reserve property for his buddy with a buck tag giving the buddy six reservations versus the legitimate three open at any one time. On this point of three-day reservation limits some hunters often express concern they will not be able to hunt the same property their entire hunting trip. And, yes that possibility does exist. However, by renewing that property reservation two days in advance after consuming one day's hunts that person may continue to hunt that same property as long as he desires. This is another example how the Association cannot be all things to all hunters and has rules designed to be the best for all with the only option better than ours being the hunter goes out and buys his own 5,000 acre ranch. The opposing view on this point is that most deer hunters do not want to be locked into just one property the entire hunt and do appreciate the option of having a large amount of acreage available to them rather than being denied the next piece of ground. Upland bird hunting reservations while within the 30 day window are largely not made by the membership until just before the hunt with many waiting on the weather as well as realizing they are not in competition with other. This effect resulted from the cleansing process during the down year 3-4 years ago motivating the less dedicated bird dog hunters from renewing. The majority of the current Association upland bird hunters are seasoned veterans and know they can reserve a hunt anytime and have a good hunt. 17 Oct The names below are those members from a multitude of states we have currently listed on the buddy hunt list. If your name is on it and you no longer want a buddy or it is not and you want it to be please email us your desires. We will distribute this list to only those that are on it and that copy will contain telephone numbers, hunting interest and dog status. We do apologize for the lateness of this list and will certainly do better with its future timeliness.
13 Oct
For those that have emailed their information in we should have it. All may email the info again just to double check.
Once in the past we had a hunter hunting in a unit with a buck tag, but for a different unit. He was caught on a routine drive by KDWPs officer check. That established our reputation with that one KDWP officer as a bad organization. Second point are those hunters attempting to block land to support a family member or friend with a buck tag. We prevent that as well.
We advertise this "bad" news here to prevent its reoccurrence.
For those with doe tags that insist on hunting during the early portion of the buck season Woodson A & B are open to such hunts and will assist that area with doe reduction.
Are your bird dogs ready? These are from Harry O., of his fine new upland hunter at 9 months old this month.
A view from this week's Iowa land run. 8 Oct
A second point about abandoned homesteads is they often have lose boards with exposed nail points and machinery camouflaged by grass both of which can cause damage to a hard charging dog.
6 Oct
Two dynamics that has also contributed toward this price increase has been the advent of more landowners with internet access reading this update page and our posted membership fees. They believe they are entitled to more payments when comparing their land contracts payments to the membership levels and dues. What they do not consider is all land is not equal in value and they have no understanding of the overhead involved in running a hunting Association. The second has been members telling some landowners their land is the best they have seen for a single specific game type. The landowners then relays that to us at contracting as leverage to demand a price increase. The failing here is we lease land for multiple use. With this system we gain a better return for our cost. If all we were to do were to lease "deer" habitat then the deer hunters would have to expect to pay much more for their membership than they do. Since that same land leased for deer hunting also has quail habitat (in the right region of the state) we then have several hunters paying for that land rather than one deer hunter. Hence our prices are very much less than those of most other pay to hunt, small acreage organizations and all members continue to hunt without counting boot prints as this multiple use land is throughout all regions we lease. We shared this just to offer a little insight as to why it is the way we operate. Good luck to all this hunting season.
Country road intersections are largely unregulated by stop signs meaning each direction has equal right of way. It is always better to slow down and look before crossing any country road intersection even though the vast majority of the time no other vehicle is coming down the other road.
Abandoned homesteads found on many properties easily attract a hunter's attention as he wonders how it must have been to live in such remote places without any services. The hazard is the sometimes covered, sometimes not hand dug pool wells that are always somewhere near the old dwelling, sometimes empty and sometimes with water. Both hunter and dog may find themselves taking a plunge if not careful.
Safety has always been the first rule of all hunters. 2 Oct
Please bear with us through this transition as we will have a few bugs to tweet and it will be a first for us as well as you. We're experimenting with a sample right now to get a hands on feeling of how they print at home and at local print shops.
We're converting from paper to CD for one very simple reason, to save a lot of money which can help offset the rising cost of leases that we are seeing every time we renew leases.
For the time being, if you are concerned with making early reservations work off the current maps because all of the leases remaining are more than enough to get by until the new maps are distributed.
There are several Missouri leases that didn't renew that we think you should be aware of. The following leases did not renew :
Nodaway CO, Mo Unit A.
Vernon Co, MO Unit A, B and C except for some small acreage in Unit A.
Grundy Co, MO Unit A.
Nodaway A has been with the club for a long time and we hate to see it go. It was a good upland bird lease but didn't include deer hunting. The original landowner passed away two years ago and the sons that took over the land have boys that like to hunt, so they decided not to renew.
Vernon Co, MO Unit A, B and C have also been in the book for a long time. It started out as crop and timber and once was one of the best quail properties in the club. The rancher has planted all the crop fields to fescue and has bulldozed every tree he could push over the last ten years so we decided it was time to move on and spend the money elsewhere.
Grundy Co, MO Unit A was owned by two separate groups. The best hunting was on the west side of the property and it sold to a group that didn't want to lease. The landowner on the east half of the property bulldozed the bulk of the cover so again, we decided to move on and spend the money elsewhere.
Please be patient with the new maps. We're not late. Every year it's mid to the end of October until we get all of the leases finalized. Land changes every year and a lot of time possession of new land isn't until the fall crops are harvested which is typically the end of October to Mid-November.
If your favorite farm is deleted and it was good hunting 99% of the time it's out of our control. Long term, it's to your advantage to have several options available at all times. The beauty of the club is your ability to flip the pages of the book to choose another quality farm to hunt. 1 Oct
A picture from last weekend's duck blind camouflaging work detail in Linn County. Thank you to all that helped out. From 10 PM the 29th to noon on the 30th of September we had a steady, region wide rain helping out both the wetland's water levels and the winter wheat growth. Also, most of the alfalfa had its last fall cutting earlier and this rain will help the last of its fall growth before going dormant.
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The buddy hunt list has been sent out without two late additions. Those two hunters will receive a copy of the list without their names and are asked to make the first telephone calls to others on the list. If there are others that would like to get involved with the buddy hunt list please call the office at 816-761-3636,
10 Oct
Rain Delay/Change: Due to the rain this week the rippy cutting and required bulldozer work was not completed. The work on Henry County wetlands is delayed until next weekend. This weekend we will work in Holt County. We apologize for the late notice. Please contact us at 816-761-3636 or 
